Introduction to the [fill in language other than English] / English Steps Workshop

This weekly workshop series is inspired by OA’s Twelve Step Workshop and Study Guide, Second Editon and The Twelve Step Workbook of Overeaters Anonymous, Second Edition. Two workshop sessions should be facilitated on each Step, using two focus questions in each weekly session. We hope this workshop will be used throughout OA as a blueprint for any two members who wish to run a bilingual workshop on the Twelve Steps of OA.

Twelve Step Workshop Format

Opening

“Welcome, everyone, to our Overeaters Anonymous Twelve Step workshop. My name is __________. I am a compulsive eater [or other self-identifier]. [Name of translating member] and I are the leaders of this workshop.

“This workshop will be in English with some translation.

“The goal of this workshop is to help us achieve and maintain abstinence by familiarizing everyone with the Twelve Steps and applying the Steps to our own personal situation. In OA, ‘Abstinence is the action of refraining from compulsive eating and compulsive food behaviors while working towards or maintaining a healthy body weight. Spiritual, emotional, and physical recovery is the result of living and working the Overeaters Anonymous Twelve Step program on a daily basis’ (Business Conference Policy Manual, 1988b).

“We ask all members to attend each week and to talk about your answers to the focus questions with another member during the following week. [If using a videoconferencing service:] Whenever possible, please switch your video on to make communication easier. Please make sure you are in a private place to protect the anonymity of all OA members.

“In this workshop we will read from The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of Overeaters Anonymous, Second Edition for five minutes. Based on the reading, we will focus on a question and write our personal answers for five to ten minutes.

“To help us focus on our work, we will now read the Twelve Steps of Overeaters Anonymous. May I have a volunteer?”

The Twelve Steps of Overeaters Anonymous

  1. We admitted we were powerless over food—that our lives had become unmanageable.
  2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
  3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
  4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
  5. Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
  6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
  7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
  8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
  9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
  10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.
  11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
  12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these Steps, we tried to carry this message to compulsive overeaters and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

Workshop Part One

“We will now start by reading two paragraphs each from The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of Overeaters Anonymous, Second Edition.

[Members read for five minutes. The leader sets the timer.]

“Thank you. The focus question is: [Read the selected focus question.]

[The leader then briefly shares their own experience, strength, and hope regarding the focus question, which is then translated into the language of the participants.]

“Please write your answers. You will have five to ten minutes. If you don’t have enough time, you are welcome to continue writing after the workshop.

[The leader sets the :mer for five to ten minutes.]

“Thank you. That brings the first part of this Step workshop to an end.”

Workshop Part Two

“We will now continue reading two paragraphs each from The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of Overeaters Anonymous, Second Edition.

[Members read for five minutes. The leader sets the timer.]

“Thank you. The focus question is: [Read the selected focus question.]

[The leader then briefly shares their own experience, strength, and hope regarding the focus question, which is then translated into the language of the participants.]

“Please write your answers. You will have five to ten minutes. If you don’t have enough time, you are welcome to continue writing after the workshop.

[The leader sets the timer for five to ten minutes.]

“Thank you. That’s all the time we have for writing today.”

Closing of Workshop in English

“Please remember our Seventh Tradition: Every OA group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions. [Add Seventh Tradition contribution information here.]

“This brings us to the close of this week’s workshop in English. Remember to discuss your answers to the focus questions with another member during the week. You might want to re-read these pages from The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of Overeaters Anonymous, Second Edition during the week.

“We remind members that the opinions expressed here today are those of individual OA members and do not represent OA as a whole. Please remember our commitment to honor each other’s anonymity. Whom you see here, what you hear here, when you leave here, let it stay here. Let us all reach out by phone or email to newcomers, returning members, and each other. Together we get better.

“To close this session, would those who wish, please join me in the Serenity Prayer: God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.

“Members are invited to stay in the room and share their answers to the focus questions in [the language of the participants].”

[English-speaking leader leaves the videoconferencing or physical room and sharing in [insert appropriate language] takes place.]

Focus Questions for Twelve Steps Workshops

Step One

  1. What foods and situations lead me to eat compulsively?
  2. What have I tried to do to stop the compulsive behaviors? (List what you have done, no matter the results.)
  3. What does abstinence mean to me?
  4. What do I do to be abstinent and maintain a healthy body weight?

Step Two

  1. The disease of compulsive eating is physical, emotional, and spiritual. What happens when I eat compulsively?
  2. How does my compulsive eating make my life unmanageable?
  3. How did I use my compulsive eating to make my life manageable?
  4. Can I recover without spiritual help? What have I tried, and how did that work?

Step Three

  1. Before I joined OA, what was my idea of a Higher Power?
  2. Now that I am in OA, what is my idea of a Higher Power?
  3. What daily actions do I take to maintain a connection with my Higher Power?
  4. How do I feel about having a Higher Power “take care of me”?

Step Four

  1. Why and how am I resentful?
  2. How am I afraid, and of what?
  3. How has my sexual conduct impacted my compulsive eating?
  4. Who have I harmed, and how did I harm them?

Step Five

  1. How does Step Five help my recovery?
  2. Have I taken Step Five? If yes, what was the result?
  3. If I haven’t taken Step Five yet, am I willing to take Step Five?
  4. Who might receive my Step Four inventory, and how would I give it to that person?

Step Six

  1. Go back to Step Four and list my character defects.
  2. How did these character defects help me in the past?
  3. What problems do they cause now?
  4. What can I do to make myself more willing to rely on my Higher Power to remove these character defects?

Step Seven

  1. How does humility lead to serenity?
  2. Am I frightened by the process of looking at my character defects?
  3. Why am I taking Step Seven? Will this make me a better person or an arrogant person?
  4. How much time and effort am I willing to put in to taking Step Seven?

Step Eight

  1. What does it mean to harm or be harmed?
  2. What have I done to harm others or myself?
  3. How do I forgive myself and others?
  4. How far do I go to make amends? How do I know if I am going too far or not far enough?

Step Nine

  1. Why am I making amends? Am I expecting a specific result or reaction from the other person?
  2. How do I not hurt the other person when I make amends?
  3. How can I prepare to make amends?
  4. Finally, how do I actually make amends?

Step Ten

  1. What is a daily personal inventory? How do I do one every day?
  2. Can I persevere with working the program even when times are difficult?
  3. Does the inventory need to be in writing? How detailed should it be?
  4. How do I promptly admit that I was wrong?

Step Eleven

  1. Why do I need to do Step Eleven?
  2. What does prayer mean to me? Do I pray? If yes, how? If no, why not?
  3. What does meditation mean to me? Do I meditate? If yes, how? If no, why not?
  4. How has my relationship with a Higher Power changed?

Step Twelve

  1. Have I had a spiritual awakening? Describe it.
  2. How do I help another compulsive eater find recovery?
  3. Working the OA program is not always easy. How have I used the program to get through difficult situations?
  4. Am I practicing the Steps in all areas of my life?

Responsibility Pledge

Always to extend the hand and heart of OA
to all who share my compulsion;
for this I am responsible.

OA Board-approved. Overeaters Anonymous®, Inc.
©2024 Overeaters Anonymous®, Inc. All rights reserved.

Mail Address: P.O. Box 44727, Rio Rancho, NM 87174-4727 USA
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